Presentation

The electronic music is driven by a click-track that has to be sent to the conductor and the soloist (Organ)

The software environnement is Ableton Live, there is no Max-msp patch for the concert.

The spatialisation of sound is the main challenge of the electronic music and is quite complex: 14 channels plus the 2 tracks for the click-track.

Frontal stereo sound diffusion for the amplification of the ensemble, it should blend with the electronic part.

Sound Spatialization

1) Stereo PA: instrumental amplification and all the electronics that has to be perceived as mixed with the acoustic instruments

2) Inner circle of 6 loudspeaker: the concert was in a church, so, in order to limit reverberation’s problems, we put the loudspeakers under the chairs , sending the sound directly on the bodies of the public.

we used these loudspeakers for soft, intimate and tiny sounds.

3) external circle of 6 loudspeakers: these speakers are pointed towards the outside and not towards the public. the idea is to use the church’s space like the organ does and to animate the entire acoustic of the church. We used these loudspeakers for very loud sounds and for the crescendos.

Audio setup

As an example, loudspeakers setup for the Saint-Eustache church :

Software installation

Everything is included in the folder Ballata_live.

Simply copy it to your disk.

Launch the _ballata_live_ok _Live Session.

Live Session

The soundfiles are at 44.1 kHz.

System calibration and tests

WARNING: the outputs in Ableton Live, concerning the two audio outputs circles are (DAC) 1 2 5 6 3 4.

Initialization routine

Before the performance, check that the click is correctly received by the organist and the conductor.

Performance notes

During the performance, the stereo level, the lower and the higher ring relative levels should be controlled independantly using midi faders in order too follow the wide dynamic range of the piece.

At the mixing desk, you need to control in three independant channels the volume for the stereo PA, the inner circle and the external circle.

This is very important because it allows you to follow the big dynamic changes present in the piece.

The best thing, for instance, is to do the crescendos with the external circle because you can have a fortissimo without having a lot of sound pressure, and the electronic sound will be naturally mixed with the organ’s sound.